Art of discharging sheets from a printing-press substantially free from electricity.



M. CLINTON.

ART OF DISCHARGING SHEETS FROM A PRINTING PRESS SUBSTANTIALLY FREE FROM ELECTRICITY. APPLICATION FILED JAN. 27. I915.

1,216,21 1. Patented Feb. 13, 1917.

per hi e Mu 60w" UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

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TO WILLIAIHE. WEAK, OI PHILADELPHIA,

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To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, MICHAEL Cmn'rou, a citizen of the United States, residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvama, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Art of Discharging Sheets from a Printing-Press Substantially Free from Electricity, of whichthe following is a specification. Y

When the printed sheets are discharged from a printing press, they, very frequently,

' are charged with static electricity. This charge is generally insignificant upon a single sheet, but, when the charged sheets are piled on each other, they become unmanageable. The sheets deposited by the press slide sidewise instead of lying straight, the

' pile is hard to part and individual sheets ing. This charge of electricity can be and- ,ductor of electricity, which is cannot be withdrawn, and many other obstacles are offered to easy and regular printis acquired in various ways; sometimes it appears to arise from friction, either in the rapid passage of the sheets through the air, or their withdrawal from the unprinted stack of paper; sometimes the stack of papers seems to have been charged before it is put on the press. Sometimes the paper seems to have been charged by induction while on the roller by electricity generated in the press by its revolution.

My method of discharging the charge of static electricity from the paper passing through a printing press, comprises heating the paper, while passing through press, by bringing it into contact with a heated conounded electrically and comes substantial y into electrical contact with the whole of the surface of the paper. The heating of the paper causes the electricity to pass freely from the papervto the conductor, whence it is carried by the grounding to the earth. The reason that heating increases greatly the deelectrifying effect of the conductor, is because the moisture, always presentin the paper, is evaporated, filling the air immediately in contact with the paper with moisture,so that the electricity lying on the points of the surface of the paper that do not actually touch the conductor, will be opposed by much les resistance in reaching the heated conductor. As the static electricity collected on a sheet of non-conducting material such as paper, remains nearly fixed at one location and does not flow along the surface,

teammate. m n. J Patented Feb. 13,1917.

the advantage of having a medium between the grounded conductor and the paper that will offer the least resistance at the points where the surface of the paper and the I heated and grounded conductor are minutelyout of contact with each other, is obvious,

and the effect in substantially totally freemg the paper from electricity readily conceived. This condition applies more particu larly to winter, when the air can. contain little moisture, even inside an ordinarily I heated building; in summer :when the moisture'is plentiful little if anyjstatic electricity is collected by the sheets.

The best way of which I. am aware of carrying out the art above mentioned, and an apparatus I find in practice suitable for this purpose I will now describe;

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of part of a press, and Fig. 2 is a front elevation of part of a press, each figure showing an apparatus suitable for carrying out the art above described in what I re gard as the best way.

The paper is carried from the pack into the press in any usual way. Thepape'r, while passing through the press, is heated to a temperature of say 100 Fahrenheit. The paper is heated on both sides, by heating the cylinder 3, upon which the paper is carried, andalso heating the side of the paper away from the cylinder. I have found the best way to do this is by passing the paper between the pipe 4 and the cylinder 3. I heat the pipe 4 to a high temperature usually approaching 200 Fahrenheit. This pipe will heat the bed of the cylinder through the paper, and, in case the passage through the press of the paper is intermittent, it will heat the cylinder directly while the paper is not passing. I make the pipe 4 of a conducting material and allow it to come into electrical contact tialily the entire surface of the sheet irlto contact with the conductor; whereby the moisture produced in the air in immediate contact with the paper and the conductor,

lessens greatly the resistance to the passage of the electricity from points on the; paper minutely separated from the conductor.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aifix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

MICHAEL GLINTONP Witnesses: 1

MARK W. COLLET, HELEN H. Gow. 

